Circulating on social media and of course in WhatsApp, is a viral warning about yet another issue with WhatsApp privacy settings. Following on from the furore around the new WhatsApp privacy update which led me to delete the app completely, fresh concerns have surfaced. However, this new concern actually relates to a change the messaging platform made back in 2019. Still, you should change this setting. Here’s what you need to know.
What Setting Has Changed In WhatsApp?
Back in 2019, WhatsApp changed a privacy setting which allowed people not in you contact list to add you to groups. In a blog post, WhatsApp stated that these changes were to allow “family, friends, co-workers, classmates” connect easier after users “asked for more control over their experience”. Personally, I don’t buy that for a second but that’s irrelevant.
The change effectively means you could be added to groups where you know no-one by people you don’t know.
In the UK, both the Upton and Cheshire Police took to social media to highlight this change and the dangers, the latter saying “WhatsApp has changed its group settings to include ‘everyone’ by default so people you don’t know can add you to a group without your knowing. These people may include scam messages, loan sharks, etc”.
We need to be careful of scaremongering here. This isn’t a new feature to take advantage of your data. Instead, it’s a change that’s been noticed and looked at through the new lens of WhatsApp coming under fresh scrutiny.
This is kinda true, except… it's not a sinister new feature. People who aren't contacts could always add you to groups. Settings last changed in 2019 when WhatsApp added the "only my contacts"/"my contacts except" options, giving users more control. https://t.co/ZUNTRFpP3Uhttps://t.co/zrZ6FjKA51
Today, Apple has announced a range of features and services designed for people with mobility, vision, hearing, and cognitive disabilities. Technology needs to start doing more to meet the needs of all users, not just those of the majority which why this new is welcome. Here’s what Apple is planning.
SignTime
From May 20th, when contacting the Apple Store and Apple Support, visitors will be able to make use of SignTime. This allows customers to communicate in using American Sign Language (ASL) in the US, British Sign Language (BSL) in the UK, or French Sign Language (LSF) in France, right in their web browsers. Customers visiting Apple Store locations can also use SignTime to remotely access a sign language interpreter without booking ahead of time. SignTime will initially launch in the US, UK, and France, with plans to expand to additional countries in the future.
AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch
To support users with limited mobility, Apple is introducing a new accessibility feature for Apple Watch called AssistiveTouch. This allows users with upper body limb differences to enjoy the benefits of the Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls. Using built-in motion sensors like the gyroscope and accelerometer, along with the optical heart rate sensor the Apple Watch can detect subtle differences in muscle movement and converts these into cursor movements on the display through a series of hand gestures, like a pinch or a clench.
Eye-Tracking Support for iPad
iPad OS will now gain additional support for third-party eye-tracking devices. This makes it possible for people to control iPad using just their eyes. Later this year, compatible MFi devices will track where a person is looking onscreen and the pointer will move to follow the person’s gaze, while extended eye contact performs an action, like a tap.
Explore Images with VoiceOver
Apple is also introducing new features for VoiceOver, their screen reader software. Building on recent updates that brought Image Descriptions to VoiceOver, users can now explore even more details about the people, text, table data, and other objects within images.
Users can navigate a photo of a receipt like a table: by row and column, complete with table headers. VoiceOver can also describe a person’s position along with other objects within images — so people can relive memories in detail, and with Markup, users can add their own image descriptions to personalise family photos.
Made for iPhone Hearing Aids and Audiogram Support
In a significant update to the MFi hearing devices program, Apple is adding support for new bi-directional hearing aids. The microphones in these new hearing aids enable those who are deaf or hard of hearing to have hands-free phone and FaceTime conversations. These will be available later this year.
Accessibility is a human right more companies need to follow Apple’s lead here.
The leak was uncovered by Vadix, an IT company specialising in a range of tech solutions for companies. A spokesperson for Vadix said that the files leaked by MyHome.ie included ID documents, like passports and driving licenses, along with compliance-related forms. The documents are relating to customers who used the service between 2014 and 2017. It appears that in the process of being uploaded to a customer management portal, the files were also left in an unsecured folder available to the public.
A MyHome.ie spokesperson could not confirm whether or not bank details and phone numbers were leaked.
My Home.ie said in a statement, that “there is no evidence to suggest that the data stored on this folder was accessed at any stage before this matter was brought to our attention. However, we do understand that an [as-yet-unspecified] number of these files included personal data”.
What Should MyHome.ie Customers Do?
If you used MyHome.ie at all in the past, go check your account and note the password that you’re logging in with. Be sure to change it for the MyHome.ie website and any other websites using the same credentials. In the coming weeks and months, be extra vigilant when it comes to phone calls or text messages which appear to be from your bank or similar.
This week, I deleted WhatsApp. I don’t just mean I deleted the app either. I went in, deleted my account completely and then nuked the app from my phone. After that I finally went and deleted Facebook too. It’s been on my list of things to do for some time, or at least deleting Facebook was. The urge to delete WhatsApp is a more recent phenomenon so I figured I should pull together the top six reasons I decided to delete WhatsApp.
This is not intended to be a preachy “I did it so you should too” article. I understand entirely that we’re in a pandemic and that WhatsApp has kept friends and families connected during some tough times. However, that doesn’t give Facebook and WhatsApp a free pass to go rogue with your data.
1. Privacy Versus Profit
The primary reason why I decided to delete WhatsApp is privacy. Back in 2014, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum sold his app to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook for in or around $16 billion. Koum would stay on at Facebook as a member of the board, before leaving in silence late in 2019. It emerged that WhatsApp’s departure from being privacy-focused and instead shifting towards feeding the Facebook advertising machine was a primary reason behind his decision to leave.
Indeed, as early as 2016, just two years after the takeover, the cracks in WhatsApp privacy-first mindset was starting to show by way of a privacy policy update. In a since-deleted 2016 WhatsApp blog post, the company outlined plans to share WhatsApp user data with parent company Facebook claiming that “by coordinating more with Facebook, we’ll be able to do things like track basic metrics about how often people use our services and better fight spam on WhatsApp”.
This would be just one of the run-ins Facebook would have with the European Commission who fined Facebook for misleading them, a fine which would be lose change down the back of Zuckerberg’s couch.
Flash forward to this year.
In January, WhatsApp caused quite the furore with another privacy policy update which, if you wanted to continue using the app, you really had to accept. This update itself wasn’t all that bad, but for me, it marks the start of Facebook’s monetisation of WhatsApp. Well, in truth it’s just the biggest milestone in the continuation of this process really.
Remember that $16 billion that Facebook paid for WhatsApp? That figure isn’t something you should ignore. It does impact you. Facebook only paid that because it believes the messaging platform can generate a lot more money in return. You don’t pay for WhatsApp. What do we say about products you don’t pay for? Yes, you are the product. Your attention is a massive commodity and Facebook makes a lot of money from that. The potential in combining WhatsApp insights with Facebook ad targeting is terrifying and I’m not talking about the scaremongering you’ve heard. The reality is much worse.
You know the whole idea that Facebook is showing you eerily suitable ads and we all jokingly say “our phones must be listening to us”. Well, the really scary thing is that Facebook doesn’t need a microphone. It needs metadata, or data about your data. WhatApp has an abundance of this and while this data might seem useless to most, it’s the lifeblood that ad targeting algorithms survive on.
The truth is, we don’t know how much damage will come from WhatsApp and Facebook lowering the walls between the two companies, but my gut is telling me that’s it’s not going to be good for your privacy.
2. Facebook Is Breaking GDPR Rules
I’ve yet to have someone correct me on this. My position is that because WhatsApp will slowly but surely stop working for you unless you accept the new terms and conditions, Facebook is breaking GDPR. I’m a big fan of GDPR and personally believe it’s one of the most important pieces of EU legislation yet. Why? Well, because very few of us realise how important protecting our personal data is so I’m delighted that someone else is fighting that fight for us.
GDPR states that consent must be freely given. The original example of this was companies asking you for your email address to enter a competition. They’d add a tick box saying by entering and ticking here you’re ok with us adding you to our newsletter. That’s actually not allowed because under GDPR you should be able to enter that competition but not join the newsletter. Of course, you can also just not enter the competition.
It’s very similar with WhatsApp.
First of all, you can just not use the platform. But with over 2 billion app users worldwide and with 80% of the Irish population using the platform, quitting WhatsApp isn’t easy.
Next up is continuing to use the platform, but refusing to accept the new terms and conditions. This is workable up to a point. WhatsApp has confirmed that while the app will continue to work for the short-term, in the coming months, functionality will start to drop off to the point of the app being unusable.
This, in my eyes, means acceptance of the updated WhatsApp terms and conditions cannot be freely consented to. This means, you guessed it, the new WhatsApp terms and conditions update is breaking GDPR. Don’t take my word for it. The Hamburg Data Protection Agency has already banned Facebook from processing any data sourced from WhatsApp.
Even if that turns out not to be the case, there’s another GDPR slam dunk that WhatsApp faces, but it’s also a whole reason you should stop using WhatsApp. You are facilitating illegal processing of data.
3. WhatsApp Has An Unhealthy Obsession With Your Contacts
I’ve stopped using WhatsApp. This means, WhatsApp should no longer have me details. But what happens if you are using WhatsApp and you have my phone number in your contacts? Well, WhatsApp will hoover up all of your contacts regardless of who wants their details to be processed or not by WhatsApp and maybe Facebook too.
There’s nothing stopping you from telling WhatsApp not to access your contacts, but then you’ll have to work out who is who in your chat feed.
This is one of the biggest reasons I love Signal. Remember WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum. When he left WhatsApp, disgruntled at how Facebook was running the show, he started the Signal Foundation. Signal absolutely does not want your contacts. Signal looks at encrypted versions of your contacts and compares all of these “hashed” contacts to work out who is on Signal and helps you get in touch with them. Once the task is completed, any information is cleared from Signal servers and all of the contact data is nice and secure on your phone.
This is the beauty of being a non-profit message app like Signal instead of being WhatsApp, an app owned by the very much for profit advertising machine, Facebook.
4. WhatsApp Is Not Open Source
Open-source software is exactly how it sounds. When an app is built, the code and everything about how the app is built gets shared withe the world. Android is an open-source operating system which many smartphone manufacturers, like Samsung, has taken and made versions of for themselves.
When you pay a whopper sum of cash for an app, you’re also buying a lot of intellectual property. This is the way the app is built and coded. Facebook doesn’t want the WhatsApp code out there for everyone to see because it’s valuable. This means WhatsApp isn’t open-source. On the surface, this might seem logical, but it actually sets off security alarm bells.
Open-source software is tested by security specialists on a regular basis. WhatsApp doesn’t get this but apps like Signal and Threema, two communication apps I’ve adopted, are open-source.
5. Facebook Has A Horrible Track Record With Protecting Data
This really should have been the first reason. Facebook is leakier than a colander holding water when it comes to data protection. Recently, a massive dataset of personal Facebook user data was leaked online, with over one million Irish users caught up in the leak. There’s no coincidence that you’re seeing more and more ads on TV for scam phone calls and text messages now too. The Facebook data leak resulted in phone numbers, names, emails and even occupations becoming available online.
This is where I point back to my first point. When a company handles so much data capable of generating so much revenue, something has to give. The privacy versus profit aspect means Facebook will have more leaks in future. This is a massive reason why I do not want my daily messenger app connected to the Facebook brand in any way. I’m not worried about Facebook reading my WhatApp messages deliberately. I’m worried about their over zealous growth teams connected the dots by mistake and leaking a load of data or something.
I do not trust Facebook in the slightest.
Facebook or WhatsApp doesn’t really need my personal data. My metadata could be enough for some fun targeting. WhatApp can share when I was last online, who I’m chatting with and for how long. Peer to peer targeting is one of the biggest causes of advertising that makes people think their phone is listening. Your friend is searching on a website for socks, send you a WhatsApp and whether you were talking about socks or not, you might just see sock ads on Facebook.
That’s what metadata can do and it’s extremely powerful.
What Can You Use Instead Of WhatsApp?
There are plenty of alternatives out there. I’ve been using Threema to speak with some family for a couple of years now. But my new primary messaging app is Signal. Maybe there’s a bit of poetic beauty that I find attractive in the whole ex-WhatsApp founder using his Facebook money to try and kill Facebook and WhatsApp.
But Signal is also just massively privacy-focused. In a recent blog post, Signal outlined how they were asked by authorities for data on some of their users. Signal couldn’t help “because everything in Signal is end-to-end encrypted by default, the broad set of personal information that is typically easy to retrieve in other apps simply doesn’t exist on Signal’s servers”.
The non-profit is set up to protect data by default, not profit from it. It’s a whole model that challenges the Facebook and WhatsApp approach and it’s where I’ll be trusting with my messages and video calls from now on.
Rockstar is surely getting a lot of value from GTA 5. I’m sure we’d all love this article to be about Grand Theft Auto 6, but alas it’s not. To be fair, I’ve just got the PS4 version of GTA 5 again and it’s aged incredibly well. Today, Rockstar has confirmed that the special edition GTA 5 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S is launching on November 11 later this year.
Image courtesy of gtaboom.com
On the same day, a standalone version of GTA Online will launch which will be free on PS5 for the first three months.
The new versions of GTA 5 and GTA Online for next-gen consoles is bringing graphic upgrades along with new features. While Rockstar has yet enlighten us as to what exactly is coming, the hope is that we’re going to get a significant upgrade.
The game’s creator said, “the new generation versions of GTA 5 will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever”.
Launched way back in 2013, GTA 5 has proven to be one of the most popular games of all time, selling 140 million copies.
Love a bit of F1 I do. F1 2021 is in the works and today we’ve just got two cool bits of news confirmed. The Codemasters made game will be the first under the ownership of EA Sports.
Iconic Drivers
F1 2021 will features seven iconic drivers who feature as part of the Digital Deluxe content for My Team.
Michael Schumacher
Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost
Jenson Button
Nico Rosberg
David Coulthard
Felipe Massa
Cover Drivers
We’ve also had the cover drivers for F1 2021 confirmed. Featuring the high-flying Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles LeClerc.
The Sony Xperia 5 II is the latest tier 2 phone from Sony, taking some of the best parts of their Xperia 1II while shaving back in a few key areas to bring the best performance possible without the killer price tag. I’ve always been a big fan of Sony, but they have always been a nearly brand, nearly in the sense that every year their flagship and tier 2 phones offer some of the best specs on the market but they always seem to lack that spark to make them standout from the crowd. The Xperia 5II is no different. This year we get a great phone, with a slick looks for the price that is very much focused at camera users with wicked specs for camera and video recording but makes savings by creating a smaller unit that removes the fluffy bells and whistles such as the 4k Display, not unlike the Google Pixel 5.
The Xperia 5II is at it’s core an Xperia 1II lite model, with a 6.1″ display, 120hz refresh rate, sexier rounded corners for better ergonomics, strong battery, the same camera as the flagship and the return of the 3.5mm headphone port. In essence if you want solid specs and a smaller phone, the Xperia 5II could be right up your alley.
Xperia 5II Design
As I mentioned earlier, the Xperia 5II is just really an Xperia 1II mini, we get the same and now standard Sony 21:9 display, a 6.1″ display a whole 0.4″ smaller than its bigger sibling. And while 0.4″ may seem like it’s not that much smaller, it is something you will notice within a couple of seconds of getting to grips with the device. In my opinion the 21:9 ratio of the Sony phones, is half designed with watching videos in mind and half an ergonomic decision. It’s why holding a Sony phone in one hand easier than it’s rivals and it’s easy to hit all corners of the display with your thumb due to the long and narrow design of the chassis.
While some things stay the same, sometimes things need change. In the past the Sony product range has been known for a particular style, hard sharp edges and a boxy look, just think PS4 but in a phone, whereas this year we get rounded edges, a big change for Sony. To be fair this edgy style has been the Sony calling card for almost a decade and this change only makes the phone easier to hold, while the rounding is not so extreme to detract from the iconic Sony design.
As per the norm on the chassis, we also get our volume keys, a reprogrammable Google Assistant button as well as our Camera trigger and fingerprint scanner instead of the in screen sensor. The only downside of this is if your like me, you may end up accidentally hit the button while holding the phone. Other phones in this price range such as the OnePlus 8 use the inscreen scanner, and it’s a let down not getting one here, but by no means is this a deal breaker.
On the base we have our USB-C charger and at the top we see the 3.5mm port, something with was dropped in last years model, making a very welcome return. How much longer we will see the port be included in phone designs is beyond me, but long may it continue.
Overall the glass shelled Xperia 5II looks exactly like you expect a Sony phone to look. It’s slick, the reflective glass body adds some pop, it’s very functional but is it as sexy as some of the competition, that is up for debate.
Display & Camera
The display on the Xperia 5II is good without being great and by that I mean, rather than the 6.5-inch 4K display of the Xperia 1 II we are rocking a 6.1″ Full HD screen but we do get a 120Hz refresh rate which is twice as fast at refreshing images in comparison to previous models. This makes for a smoother experience when scrolling your social media feed….unless you’re Martin and his current rage against the social machine of course. I must say this though, this 120Hz refresh I have seen before and always thought meh, but here’s the things, everything just feels a bit smoother and it’s probably one of the few improvements in smartphone technology that while subtle, you will miss it if you didn’t have it.
I’ve mentioned the 21:9 screen ratio, it’s longer and narrower than most phones and this ratio is designed to be optimised for watching video content in landscape as this is exactly the ratio in which most movies are made. It’s all about small subtle changes, but they do just the trick.
The Camera in the Xperia 5II is exactly what we came here to see. The 5II takes the rear camera’s and the selfie cam straight from the Xperia 1II. It means that at a cheaper price you get the exact same top of the line powerful camera set up that is a whole lot more than your usual point and shoot style camera. We get 3 rear 12mp cameras, a main shooter, ultrawide and a telephoto lens and to be fair to Sony the point and shoot images while good aren’t 10/10, more 7-8/10, but that’s solely because Sony focus on the pro-photographer. With the ability to tinker your camera settings that you can’t access in most phones you have the chance to play with everything from ISO to colour balances and everything in between to help you get the shot you want. The telephoto sensor only works up to 3x optical zoom, but the quality of zoom images is particularly good – without studying them closely you wouldn’t know that they were zoomed-in.
There’s a single 8MP front-facing camera, which produces nice-looking selfie shots. There are many phones with higher-specced selfie cameras, but if you’re just looking to take the odd shot for your social media channels you’ll be perfectly happy with what Sony’s selfie shooter can do. In fairness, the less I see of my mug the better.
Xperia 5II Performance
The Xperia 5II isn’t trying to be the top of the top, packing into it a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with 8GB of RAM. Not the top shelf but close enough that the power is more than sufficient for what you need and maybe even saying this is proof of my own spec sheet snobbery. There’s nowt wrong with the processor and it did the job admirably. Everything loaded without issue and in the past I’ve become used to what I called the “Sony Glitches” but they seem to be a thing of the past with no lags or crashes to note during my time playing with the 5II.
Oh before I forget, Sony also added a fancy new feature called Heat Suppression Power Control, this makes sure the phone doens’t overheat when you go on a heavy video or gaming session. Again it’s not something most would buy a phone for but trust me it’s handy to have and something I will miss as down the years some phones – yes I’m looking at you HTC, managed to get so hot to the touch we’d end up dropping them.
The Xperia 5II will only hit these shores with the 128GB storage, still plenty and you will be able to upgrade using a microSD card. We also get 5G and Android 10 as standard with it’s own Sony UI overlay which gives the operating system its own Sony styling.
Battery life
The phone has the same 4,000mAh battery as the Xperia 1II with the fast charging capability, the only downside you don’t get the 21w fast charger as standard. In fairness, the Xperia 5II is a slightly smaller phone, meaning this is a beast of a battery for a phone of this size and with my standard usage we managed to get to the end of the day with 9% left in the tank….and I would be a tad over the average user.
Sony Xperia 5II Pricing & Specs
The Sony Xperia 5 II is available through Eir and Vodafone with prices at €800, and it comes in only one model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Type
SIM-free smartphone
SIM type
Dual Nano SIM
Operating system
Android 10
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 (2.84 GHz, octa-core)
Colour
Black
Screen size
6.1″
Screen resolution
Full HD+ 1080 x 2520p
Screen type
OLED
Touchscreen
Yes
PPI
450 ppi
Screen features
– 21:9 CinemaWide – 120 Hz display – HDR – Corning Gorilla Glass 6 – Side sense
Camera
– Main: Triple 12 MP – Front: 8 MP
Video resolution
– Main: 4K Ultra HD HDR (125 fps) – Front: Full HD (30 fps)
Flash
Yes
Camera features
– Cinema Pro powered by CineAlta – Intelligent wind filter – Up to 60 times per second continuous AF/AE calculation – Real-time Eye AF (Autofocus) for humans and animals – Up to 20 fps AF/AE tracking burst – Bokeh – Photo pro – Google Lens – Portrait selfie – Panorama – Creative effect – Object tracking – Soft skin effect – Geo tagging – QR code reader – Hand shutter – Touch capture
– aGNSS – Google Cast – Screen Mirroring – USB 3.1 – HDCP – Media Transfer Protocol
Battery
Lithium-polymer
Battery capacity
4000 mAh
Standby time
Up to 570 hours
Talk time
Up to 21 hours 10 minutes
The Goosed Verdict
The question is, should I buy a Sony Xperia 5II? Well that really depends!
100% go for it if you are a fan of Sony phones, maybe you’re in the market for an upgrade or want something a little smaller that still keeps to the core values of a Sony phone. This model is all about them premium features in a smaller size and if the Xperia 1II was something you had in mind then the smaller Xperia 5II is an ideal alternative. You would also like this phone if photography is your things. The Sony Xperia 5II is about more than point and shoot out of the box photos, here you get to control the camera settings to get exactly the shots you want, day or night.
The other side of that is, the Xperia 5II is not going to be for you if screen quality is a big things for you, I would be looking at the Xperia 1II or the Galaxy S20 wit their QHD displays as better choices. The Sony Xperia 5II also doesn’t include wireless charging nor does it come cheaply with pricing similar to a OnePlus 8. If price is the major issue have a look at the Google Pixel 5 or the Xperia 10II for worthy alternatives. It’s a cracking phone, I truly did love it but was it enough to move from my Pixel 5G as the daily rider? Not this time.
I’m massively excited about Army of the Dead which is coming to Netflix on 21 May. Earlier, Netflix premiered the first 15 minutes of Zack Snyder’s eagerly-anticipated zombie flick. What did we learn?
The Zombies
I always look out for what kind of zombies we’re getting in a movie like this. Army of the Dead will feature some smart as hell strong and bloody fast zombies who infect others. Those infected will reanimate in a matter of moments and communicate with each other with a series of clicking like noises.
They are going to be really clever zombies capable of comprehension and maybe even emotion on some levels. It might be the case that not all zombies are equal. Some look more mobile and intelligent than others.
The Movie Is Adult
Just 15 minutes and we’ve seen glorious amounts of gore and nudity. This isn’t going to be a family movie in the slightest. It looks like Zach Snyder was very aware of this decision.
The tunes playing in the background along with the general style of the opening show that Army of the Dead is going to be one hello an action movie. There’s plenty of room for humour too which, in my opinion, every good zombie movie needs too.
Over the past few days, a country wide last man standing competition as been all the talk of on Reddit’s r/Ireland. Redditor u/Darth_Memer_1916 woke up very bored one morning and decided to post “Deleting one county a day until there is one left [Day 1]. Most upvoted county in the comments gets deleted.” And for the past few days, Irish Redditor’s have been vigourously hitting F5 to see what county is knocked out of each round. The current list of eliminated counties is Dublin (R1), Roscommon (R2), Longford (R3), Carlow (R4), Antrim (R5), Offaly (R6), Meath (R7), Cavan (R8) and Tyrone (R9)
After round 1, Dublin were the first to go with 1.3k votes. That post also got over 400 upvotes and 170 comments. Now 10 rounds later, the latest post has 3.1k upvotes and it looks like Cork is next to go with 1.9k votes. This just shows how much traction this thing is getting and it is providing some top quality memes.
But one Redditor who has stood out is r/eoincasey78. Since round 3, r/eoincasey78 was pushing for Tyrone to be eliminated next. In rounds 6 and 7 he began spamming the comments section simply stating “Tyrone” and was getting lots of support with 1000’s of upvotes. Come round 8, poor Tyrone’s demise was cemented after r/eoincasey78 again nominated them to be eliminated and gained 1.9k upvotes and 40 awards (an astonishing amount of awards for a comment on Reddit). Tyrone fell and r/eoincasey78’s work was done. And then in came a flood of meme’s, and also confusion from those who our out of the loop of this whole facade.
As a Limerick man, I am very keen to see how we get on. We have been keeping a low profile for now, and there have been some whispers by people about voting Laois out next. But you can never really know. It will be interesting to see who wins. It doesn’t seem like there’s any particular reason why a county is eliminated. It just seems to be a free for all. You don’t need a Reddit account to follow this either. Just keep an eye on r/Ireland and you can read the comments and see how the votes are going.
If you don’t think data protection is important or even a little bit sexy, then these are the kind of topics you need to start focusing on. A couple of years back I was landed with the job of DPO in a digital marketing agency. I started to learn about GDPR and data protection and fell a little bit in love. Often, people didn’t like my interpretation of GDPR either. Why? Because GDPR often tells businesses what they don’t want to hear, yet here we are and things like tracking cookies are on the way out. This is definitely the case with my complaint against the Catholic Church and is most certainly the case with Facebook and the new WhatsApp terms and conditions. The problem is that you won’t be able to use WhatsApp if you don’t accept the new terms and conditions. Here’s everything you need to know.
What Is The WhatsApp Terms And Conditions Change?
You might remember that WhatsApp tried to change its terms and conditions back in January of this year. It caused quite an uproar. Basically, people understandably don’t like WhatApp and Facebook cross-sharing data. While we all know they are the same company, they perform two different tasks and we expect walls between them.
The WhatsApp January terms and conditions change sought to tear down these walls and some users believed it would pave the way for Facebook getting more of your personal data from WhatsApp.
WhatsApp and Facebook caved, saying more time would be given for people to weigh up what’s going on. It went quiet, but here we are and the terms and conditions are going to be updated on 15 May.
What Happens On 15 May?
On 15 May, a new terms and conditions banner will appear in WhatsApp. You’ll be asked to agree to the terms. You’ll be able to dismiss this, but it will come back again after a few weeks.
In a statement, WhatsApp confirmed that after a period of time, “you won’t be able to access your chat list, but you can still answer incoming phone and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap on them to read or respond to a message or call back a missed phone or video call”. It also stated that “after a few weeks of limited functionality, you won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications, and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone”.
Should I Accept The New WhatsApp Terms And Conditions?
It’s entirely up to you. Personally, I am contemplating deleting WhatsApp and moving to Threema or Signal. But I’m also realistic in understanding that 80% of the Irish public use WhatsApp and to stop using the messenger platform where I communicate with family, friends and even colleagues in groups would be extremely difficult, particularly during a pandemic.
You need to understand exactly what’s happening and make an informed decision. WhatsApp says the changes enable businesses to communicate with you and provide further clarity on how your data is processed. They also state that messages will remain encrypted end-to-end and stay private. They’ve provided a set of FAQs but don’t just take WhatsApp’s word for it.
You should read up on other news sources covering the topic too. The first thing you need to do is appreciate that when you accept these terms and conditions, like all terms and conditions, your personal data is at risk and more specifically how it’s handled by large organisations changes.
While WhatsApp says “the update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data”, they also stated that the new features are “entirely optional”, but opting out of the terms is not. Well, it is, but the app becomes useless. For me, this is effectively a breach of GDPR as acceptance of terms must be done freely. WhatsApp is saying nothing else changes right now, but the changes could open a Pandora’s Box of changes down the line.
In the WhatsApp FAQs, you’ll find that the company states “should we choose to share such data with the Facebook Companies for this purpose in the future, we will only do so when we reach an understanding with the Irish Data Protection Commission on a future mechanism to enable such use.
What Does The DPC Think?
You would think that the Data Protection Commission provides a blanket of security in this scenario, but unfortunately, the DPC has a history of taking it quite easy on organisations that have been flippant with GDPR laws. They seem happy enough that Facebook has said they’ll behave.
Speaking to Independent.ie, a DPC spokesperson confirmed “WhatsApp has on numerous occasions provided written assurances to the DPC and other EU Supervisory Authorities that Facebook is not permitted to and does not use WhatsApp user data for Facebook’s own purposes, particularly for the purposes of platform safety and integrity, product development and ad serving”.
The timing of all of this does seem somewhat convenient. As Apple introduced tracker blocking which massively impacts Facebook’s advertising model and puts billions of dollars of income at risk, just 4% of iOS users are allowing Facebook to track them.
We now have data showing as people install the 14.5 update to iOS, as much as 96% of them are opting out of tracking which means Facebook will lose access to a MAJORITY of its data for these users. This should be the biggest business news story of the week. Massive implications. https://t.co/lfyVeYkcCU
Adding to the believe that the DPC has once again taken a soft stance against a large organisation, Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection, said he believes the messaging app’s new terms of use is illegal. As a result, an emergency order has been issue prohibiting Facebook from processing WhatsApp data for its own purposes.
What Happens Now?
What happens next is anybody’s guess. A large number of people will likely just accept the terms and conditions without giving it a second thought, and that’s assuming they’ve not already accepted. Personally, as I mentioned, I’m very close to pulling the plug on WhatsApp and even Facebook. It doesn’t sit right with me that “optional changes” require mandatory terms and conditions updates which effectively breaches Article 4.14 insisting consent is freely given.
Until large organisations realise that people do care about their personal data handling, nothing will change. The easiest way to ensure Facebook doesn’t mistreat your data is to not let them have it.
This will either solidify WhatsApp as the messenger of choice for people, or mark the beginning of the end with people chasing alternatives like Signal, Threema and Telegram.
What do you think? Will you accept the terms and conditions or start to think about change? Let us know in our Twitter Poll.
